When recruitment results aren’t where you want them to be, it’s tempting to advertise more widely and bring in more applications. But what if the biggest opportunity is in how you handle the candidates you already attract?
In this episode of Recruitment Smarts Live, I was joined by Stuart McKenzie from Tracker. We started with a question about job boards, but the conversation quickly widened to cover database quality, advertising decisions, AI, screening and candidate relationships.
The thread running through it all? Getting better results means looking at the whole recruitment process.
Start with your existing talent pool
Stuart’s recommendation was to make your CRM the first port of call when a new role comes in. Before paying to attract more candidates, find out who you already know.
That depends on having useful, searchable information. A database full of CVs is only valuable if you can identify the people with the skills, qualifications and experience you need.
We also discussed how searching your database can help sharpen the brief itself. If your search produces people who aren’t quite right, it can expose gaps in your understanding of the requirement. Previous placements can also give you evidence for a conversation about whether the client’s salary expectations are realistic.
Searching your CRM and advertising can happen alongside each other. The point is to give your existing talent pool a proper place in the process.
Choose job boards using evidence
Job boards remain an important source of candidates. Which ones work best depends on the sector, location, seniority and type of role.
An audience question about recruiting finance professionals illustrated this nicely: an accountant and a finance director may need different advertising approaches.
Recommendations from other recruiters can be useful, but one agency’s experience won’t necessarily translate to yours. Your own results, supported by relevant performance data and informed advice, give you a stronger basis for deciding where to spend.
Measure placements as well as applications
A busy inbox can make an advertising campaign look successful. It doesn’t tell you whether it helped fill the role.
Stuart highlighted the importance of retaining source information as candidates move into your CRM. That allows you to trace placements back to the channels that originally brought those people to you—even if they joined your database some time ago.
A source delivering fewer applications may still produce the candidate you place. Without that visibility, it’s difficult to know which spending is earning its keep.
Build a talent pool you can actually use
We discussed whether every applicant should automatically become part of your long-term database.
The right approach will vary by market. A high-turnover sector may need a different process from a specialist agency recruiting within a narrow professional field. Either way, the aim should be a pool of people you could realistically help.
Good integrations can reduce duplicate records and manual handling. Recruiters still need to decide what information matters and how to keep it useful.
Technology needs good recruitment judgement
AI and automation came up throughout the discussion, particularly around screening growing volumes of applications.
Tools can help filter candidates, organise information and manage communication. Their usefulness depends on the criteria recruiters give them.
We talked about a client insisting that a sales candidate must have a degree. Accepting that requirement without questioning it could exclude people who would be excellent in the role.
Understanding the job, challenging assumptions and distinguishing essential requirements from preferences remain central to the consultant’s role.
Candidate communication affects your future pipeline
One of my strongest takeaways was the connection between how you turn someone down today and whether they’ll speak to you again.
If candidates hear nothing after applying, why would they welcome your approach six months later?
Automation can help make communication consistent. The message still needs care: acknowledge the application, explain that you aren’t taking it forward and, where appropriate, leave the door open for future contact.
That is part of building a talent pool people want to belong to.
Diagnose the problem before changing the process
Stuart’s closing advice was to step back and establish what is actually going wrong.
Are too few suitable people seeing the advert? Is important information missing? Are your search criteria too restrictive? Or are good candidates already in your database but difficult to find?
Each problem calls for a different response. Understanding where the process falls short gives you a much better starting point for improving it.
Watch the full Recruitment Smarts Live conversation with Stuart from Tracker.
